You Can Now Authenticate Logins From Your Smartwatch

Two-factor authentication is the best way to avoid getting hacked, and Google’s offline-capable Authenticator app is probably the most convenient app out there for factoring in secondary authentication. With the latest version of the Android app, Google’s putting that convenience on your wrist.

Compatible Android Wear devices can now run the Authenticator app, meaning you don’t have to fish your phone out, just open the app on your wrist, and input the code. This is one of those rare situations where I think having an app on a smartwatch would actually be more convenient than a phone: you don’t really have to interact with the Authenticator app, just look at it, and for that a watch is better.

In the same update, Google is enabling the developer preview of its NFC authentication system. That should mean that at some time in the future, you can authenticate logins just by tapping a NFC-enabled tag against your phone. Authentication wristbands, here we come.[Google]